93% of Israeli Jews support war with Iran, Arab Israelis show far less support

A whopping 93% of Jewish Israelis said they support the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military offensive against the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to an Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) survey released on Wednesday. The survey showed that support for "Operation Roaring Lion" was overwhelming across the political spectrum in Israel.

Nearly all right-wing voters (97%) said they support the ongoing offensive against Iran, while 93% of centrist voters also back the military campaign against the Islamist ayatollah regime. Even among left-wing voters – who are typically more critical of military operations – more than three-quarters (76%) support the campaign against Tehran.

By contrast, the Arab Israeli minority is far more skeptical than the Jewish majority in Israel. Only 26% of Arab Israelis expressed their support for the military operation in Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a divisive figure in Israeli politics in recent years. However, the survey found that about 74% of Jewish Israelis trust Netanyahu to some extent when it comes to the war with Iran, suggesting that many who typically oppose him are backing the government during the conflict with the ayatollah regime in Tehran.

Views on the left were more mixed: 40% of left-wing voters said they trust Netanyahu’s handling of the situation to some extent. Among right-wing voters, trust rises to 85%. By contrast, only 16% of Arab Israelis said they have confidence in the prime minister.

Operation Rising Lion is reportedly the largest and most complex military operation in Israeli history. Some 200 Israeli fighter jets joined 200 U.S. fighter jets in the unprecedented opening strike on Saturday, Feb. 28, which eliminated the ayatollah regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his top 40 officials. The Israeli Air Force struck approximately 500 targets within the first 24 hours of the launches.

Among Israelis, U.S. President Donald Trump is generally viewed as the most pro-Israel president in American history. The latest survey revealed that 64% of Jewish Israelis believed that Israel’s security ranks high on Trump’s priority list. About 70% of right-wing Israelis trust Trump compared to 62% of centrist voters. By contrast, only 43% of Arab Israelis and 35% of left-wing voters share this sentiment.

When asked how long the operations in Iran should continue, 52% of Arab Israelis responded that they did not know. By contrast, 57% of Jewish Israelis believe the campaign should continue until both the military objectives are achieved and the ayatollah regime is overthrown. Support for regime change is strongest on the right (about 65%), compared with 49% among centrist voters and 36% on the left.

The IDI survey found that most Israelis still feel relatively safe despite the Iranian regime’s missile attacks on civilian population centers. Overall, 64% said they feel quite safe, though perceptions differ sharply between communities: 75% of Jewish Israelis reported feeling safe compared with just 15% of Arab Israelis. A shortage of bomb shelters in many Arab Israeli towns may help explain part of this gap.

Israel’s advanced, multi-layered air defense systems have intercepted the vast majority of incoming Iranian missiles. Nevertheless, 12 Israelis have been killed, hundreds injured, and multiple buildings damaged or destroyed by missile strikes.